Suppression of the Black vote has been a flashpoint since June,
when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key section of the 1965
Voting Rights Act. The decision opened the door for historically
racist regions (mostly in the South) to pass anti-voter laws such
as ID requirements that disproportionately disenfranchise Black,
Latino and poor people--who happen to overwhelmingly vote
Democratic. The GOP is happily charging ahead with such
measures.

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But a robust counteroffensive is underway, buoyed by the 50th
anniversary of the March on Washington. Speakers such as Presidents
Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter marked the occasion by
highlighting voter suppression as a serious challenge facing
minorities.

Meanwhile, legal challenges by the Justice Department and
pressure from civil rights and grassroots groups has forced a break
within GOP ranks. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) challenged his
party to join him in restoring the Voting Rights Act, which he
calls "an effective tool to prevent discrimination."

This focus on stopping anti-voter bills, though laudable, should
not obscure the struggle to address a more insidious instrument of
voter suppression. With the exception of Maine and Vermont, all
states disenfranchise felons for some time during or after
incarceration . Because African Americans are disproportionately
represented among convicted felons, this has a real impact on
electoral outcomes. The Sentencing Project reported that 600,000
former felons were ineligible to vote in Florida in 2000; they
could have swung the election to Al Gore. A study by sociologists
Chris Uggen and Jeff Manza found that former felons could have
changed the outcomes of seven U.S Senate elections between 1978 and
2000.

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The cause of prison reduction and, by extension, voting rights
protection, has received a boost from Attorney General Eric Holder,
who on August 12 proposed major policy changes in federal drug
sentencing and enforcement. Two weeks later, he announced that
marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington would be allowed
to go into effect.

A number of eminent conservatives, from Mike Huckabee to Newt
Gingrich to Jeb Bush, have joined the call for saner sentencing
guidelines. In an impassioned testimony before the Senate Judiciary
Committee, on September 18, Republican Senator Rand Paul decried
the lopsided impact of incarceration of Black Americans. "If I told
you that one out of three African-American males is forbidden by
law from voting, you might think I was talking about Jim Crow 50
years ago." Paul explained the disproportionate impact: " Because
it is easier to go into urban areas and make arrests than suburban
areas."

But this softening on crime by conservatives faces stiff
resistance from within. On Fox News Network, the perpetually irate
Bill O'Reilly barked, "Holder just is wrong!" then insisted that
"draconian measures" reduce crime rates. Clearly, some Republicans
are frightened that reducing incarceration will jeopardize the
removal of undesirable (i.e., Democratic-leaning) voters from the
rolls. Republicans in North Carolina have just reversed a law that
granted voting rights to ex-felons upon completion of parole.

Progressives could tip the scales in this internecine struggle
and cause a tectonic shift in the incarceration debate. An
important source of energy and inspiration is the army of
grassroots and legal organizations that blocked, diluted, repealed
or postponed anti-voter laws in 14 states over the last two years.
Another key model is creative action such as North Carolina's
"Moral Mondays." The weekly rallies and civil disobedience right at
the seat of state power brought national focus to the state's
nefarious voter suppression laws and lowered Gov Pat McCrory's
approval ratings from 48 percent to 39 percent. This organizing
model could be especially effective if it incorporated real
institution building and expansive voter registration.

Finally, Democrats should start championing restoration of
voting rights for ex-felons and talk more comprehensively about
crime. What Holder did is only a first step. The party must work to
jettison, once and for all, the bogus linkage between the right to
vote--our ultimate emblem of citizenship--and a damn prison
record!

James Thindwa is a Chicago resident and long time labor and community activist. He serves on the board of directors of, and writes for, In These Times magazine. Thindwa's work was featured on the Bill Moyers Journal on March 27, 2009.